Massachusetts
Massachusetts is a state located in New England, on the northeast coast of the United States. Its capital and largest city is Boston. History Early history Massachusetts was originally inhabited by Native American tribes of the Algonquian language family. While cultivation of crops such as corn and squash supplemented their diet, these tribes were generally dependent on hunting, gathering and fishing for most of their food. Villages consisted of lodges known as wigwams, as well as longhouses. Tribes were led by elders known as sachems. In the early 17th century, after contact had been made with the Europeans, large numbers of indigenous peoples in the region were killed by diseases such as smallpox, influenza, measles, and perhaps leptospirosis. Between 1617 and 1619, smallpox had claimed the lives of 90% of Massachusetts' Native American population. The first English settlers in Massachusetts, the Pilgrims, arrived via the ''Mayflower ''at Plymouth in 1620, and developed friendly relations with the native Wampanoag people. This was the second successful English colony in what would become the United States, after Jamestown. The event known as the First Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World. The Pilgrims were soon followed by other Puritans, who established the Massachusetts Bay colony in Boston in 1630. The Puritans, who believed the Church of England needed to be "purified" and experienced harassment from English authority because of their beliefs, fled to Massachusetts with the goal of establishing an ideal religious society. Unbeknownst to most Typicals, a great number of witches had also fled their home countries to escape from religious persecution. The relationships between Typicals and witches reached an all-time low in the 1690s, when the Salem Witch Trials took place in the village of Salem and resulted in the executions of several innocent Typicals and witches. Following the Salem Witch Trials, seven of the greatest witches of the time founded Ipswich Academy on Isle Royale in Lake Superior to give young witches a safe place to learn magick. In the early 18th century, Massachusetts gained its own magickal school, the Berkshire School, located in Berkshire county. Massachusetts was the center of the American movement for independence from Great Britain. Escalating tensions between the American colonists and British monarchy led to such events as the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. The American Revolutionary War began in two small Massachusetts towns. Later, during the American Civil War, Massachusetts would also be the center of progressivist and abolitionist activity. Recent history The area's industrial economy began to decline during the early 20th century, due to competition from the south and midest, as well as the Great Depression. The state de-industrialized in the last 40 years of the 20th century, costing many high-paying jobs. Instead, the original industrialization was replaced with high-technology companies and suburbanization. Massachusetts continued to be at the forefront of liberalism, becoming the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. Magickal creatures * Agropelter * Banshee * Brownie (brought from England) * Elf * Glawackus * Goblin * Griffin * Hidebehind * Leprochaun (brought from Ireland) * Ogre * Peryton * Pixie * Snow Wasset * Squonk * Stray Sod (brought from Ireland) * Thunderbird * Unicorn (brought from Europe) * Will-o'-the-Wisp * Windigo Category:Massachusetts